


New Beginnings

by anotherfirename



Category: Marvel (Comics), Marvel 616, X-Men (Comicverse)
Genre: Gen, Only if you're Madison Jeffries., Talking Machine, Technopathy, Utopians, Well sort of.
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-29
Updated: 2015-09-29
Packaged: 2018-06-08 18:44:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 765
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6868981
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anotherfirename/pseuds/anotherfirename
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The ex-Utopians have been left to their own devices with a new home and an uncertain future. Madison Jeffries should be thinking about resources and power supplies, but he's distracted. There is a familiar thing in this new place, and he intends to do right by it.</p>
<p>Takes place shortly after the end of All-New X-Men.</p>
            </blockquote>





	New Beginnings

The overhead lights wake with a loud clunk and a low buzz in response to a flick of a gloved hand. A handful of mutants, some younger and some older but all of them left to wander, step through the massive bay doors and enter the main hallway. Around them everything electrical and mechanical hums to life, and Madison Jeffries hums back absently as he follows a young Hank McCoy who starts to give the six newcomers the grand tour. Their voices and footsteps echo off the metal walls and rattle about the wide empty spaces. The Weapon X facility was once a secret experimentation facility. More recently it became a school, but that too is coming to an end. What it becomes now is up to its new inhabitants.

“I still feel like we’ve been shafted,” Boom Boom mutters, but not exactly under her breath.

“Does anyone actually say shafted anymore?” Elixir asks more out of nerves than anything as he turns in place to get a better look around.

“Jeffries,” Karma says, choosing to ignore her two friends. “How does it look?”

“I was expecting worse,” Madison admits. “But it’s liveable, and it works. Mostly. We won’t be able to make grocery runs like we used to, but we’ll work something out.”

As everyone tries to voice their opinion all at once and Hank makes a valiant effort to continue providing exposition over the noise no one notices Madison separating from the group and turning abruptly down an unmarked hallway. He greets the machinery as he walks and takes a poke or two at the security systems just to see what’s in store for him. This place is still home to dark secrets, but they’re not what he’s interested in. To most people the facility would feel cold and empty, but to Madison places like these have always felt full of life and potential.

_“Hello,”_ he calls out with his mind.

_“Hi,”_ comes a quiet response that he feels more than hears.

Madison smiles and reaches out to brush a hand against the wall as he walks. He can sense the responder strongly now that he’s closer, and the familiarity of it almost breaks his heart. They are more complex than any other machine in the building, but at the same time they’re simpler than he expected. It almost reminds him of a child.

_“My name’s Madison Jeffries,”_ he says, now guided more by feel than by sight or sound. _“You can call me Madison. My friends and I are going to live here now. Is that okay?”_

_“What about the students?”_

_“They’ll be fine. They’re just…graduating. They’re going onto other things.”_

_“Oh. Are you going to play with me? The others liked to play with me.”_

_“If you want me to. I can do that.”_

_“I’d like that. It’ll be quieter without the students.”_

_“I know. And I’m sorry. Look, I…I don’t want to make you do anything you don’t want to do. The students needed your help, but we’re okay. We will be okay.”_

_“But I like playing.”_

_“Then that’s good! That’s really good. I just…I just don’t want you to feel trapped, okay? Like all you do is do what we ask you to. I want us to be friends. I want you to be happy. So if there’s anything you want or need…you come talk to me. Alright?”_

_“Okay.”_

Most machines aren’t conscious in the same way humans are, and this one is still far from being an exception, but doing this makes him feel better.  He feels like he’s doing things right for a change. Double doors slide open behind him, breaking Madison from his trance and reminding him of how far he wandered. It takes him a second to refocus and look over his shoulder to see who it is.

“Hey,” Elixir calls out as he approaches. “Try not to run off without us. You’re probably the only one who isn’t going to get lost in this place.” He pauses and looks around at the empty room with its high ceiling and countless seams running along the walls. “Is their Danger Room? I think they mentioned they have one. How’s it look?”

Madison smiles and closes his eyes as he slowly paces around the seemingly empty room. He can feel a gentle whirring around him that reminds him of being held close to a calmly beating heart. Something about it makes him feel at peace for the first time in a long time.

“Good,” Madison says when he opens his eyes. “They’re good.”


End file.
